Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) has been categorized by the World Health Organization (WHO) as one of the top 10 health threats worldwide. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report that approximately 2.8 million people in the United States develop an antibiotic-resistant infection each year, resulting in more than 35,000 deaths annually, while the WHO estimates that roughly 700,000 people die from drug-resistant diseases globally each year. Despite the severity of the need, however, the pipeline for new antibiotics is thin and dwindling.

There are multiple factors that have led to this state of affairs regarding AMR, including the overuse/misuse of antibiotics and the natural evolution of bacteria. Similarly, the anemic pipeline of antibiotic candidates is also due to a variety of issues, chief among them the sheer cost of bringing a compound from early development to commercialization.

It is that very issue that the AMR Action Fund hopes to address.

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